Mass Effect was built from the Unreal Engine (UE) 3 games engine, which allows many modifications by the user to enhance the in-game graphics and controls.

Mass Effect's in-game configuration options have very little tweaking possibilities and only support basic graphic and key mapping. This article intends to serve as a guide to players who want to have more control on game performance and personalization, by highlight options which players can tweak to better suit their needs.

Files location: The Mass Effect game will read the files inside the Config folder. If it fails to do so, or if the files have incorrect data, the game will read the default config files that are located in the folder where you installed your game. By default they are located at 'X:\Program Files\Mass Effect\BioGame\Config'. Those files will be prefixed with the word Default (to avoid editing them by mistake).

Backup your files: To ensure that your gaming experience will not be damaged, make sure to back up every file that you are about to change. A good way to do this is to copy the Mass Effect or Config folder to a safe place. Alternatively, you can archive the folder to avoid confusion.

Game Patches: BioWare have released two patches that fix various issues. Installation of a patch will overwrite changes made to the configuration files, and update their version (indicated at the bottom of each file).

The configuration files implement the CamelCase writing style for functions and variables names. For example: the 'Caps Lock' key will be written as CapsLock, 'Right mouse button' will be written as RightMouseButton, etc.

Note, however, that this is merely a writing convention. When entering commands in the console, you may use any case, or combination of cases, you prefer. For example: "GiveBonusTalent 14", "givebonustalent 14", "GIVEBONUSTALENT 14", and "Givebonustalent 14" will all yield the same result.

This section deals with how the mouse or gamepad will operate (sensitivity, movement emulation, etc.) Most likely, you won't need to alter anything in here, but you are free to experiment.

BIOC_Base.BioPlayerInput

This section deals with the mapping of keys.

IniVersion

This section is used for internal identification.

[Engine.PlayerInput] (Device Input)

This section deals with the way the controls work:

MoveForwardSpeed

The in-game running speed. Any changes made here could ruin the game experience by giving the player an advantage. If you want to shorten the time of traveling, see the section referring to changing the game speed.

MoveStrafeSpeed

The same as MoveForwardSpeed but controls sideways movement.

LookRightScale

Deals with Shepard's neck, and how much it can be turned for a wider field of vision. This can actually be useful when trying to take screenshots.

LookUpScale

The same as LookRightScale, but deals with the up/down motion.

MouseSensitivity

The sensitivity of the mouse. It's probably better to alter this from the in-game menu.

GamepadAnalogSensitivity

The sensitivity of the gamepad. Again, probably better to alter this from the in-game menu.

DoubleClickTime

The time between clicks that register as a double-click. As Mass Effect does not treat double-clicks any differently than single clicks, changing this should not have any effect.

bInvertTurn

Invert the axis of the mouse / keypad, if you want to change this, do it from the in-game menu.

bEnableMouseSmoothing

Adds smoothing to the mouse movement. Change this through the in-game menu.

[BIOC_Base.BioPlayerInput] (Player Input)

This section has many behaviors that can be changed. It is advised to leave any line that does not start with the word 'Binding' alone. The exceptions to this are:

m_fDPadCooldownTime

Handles some of the cooldown times of the input devices and should not be altered.

m_fStormCooldownTime

The same as m_fDPadCooldownTime.

m_fQuickOrderTime

Unknown function, but should not be touched, regardless. Experiment at your own risk. (Could be a boolean to determine whether time keeps progressing or not while giving quick commands to your team-mates.)

m_bDisableCinematicAccelerate

Allow or deny the acceleration option for cinematic cut-scenes. This has no effect in the game.

m_bDisableCinematicSkip

Allow or deny the ability to skip cinematic cut-scenes (will be discussed later on).

m_fCinematicSkipTriggerDelay

The delay in milliseconds before the actual skip occurs.

m_fSlowMotionSpeed

The game has no slow motion scenes, so this option doesn't effect anything in-game.

Changing anything other than the recommended behaviors can cause severe gameplay bugs!

The binding of new keys, or changing behavior of existing keys is handled in the following way:
Bindings=(Name="",InputMode=BIO_INPUT_MODE_NONE,Command="",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False)

Name: Define the key that will execute the behavior.

InputMode: Defines the engine predefined inputs. Should not be changed.

Command: The command you want to assign to the key.

Control, Shift, Alt: Does the key work in combination with one of these keys. Make sure to only set True/False here.

Combining Commands: You can specify multiple commands, provided they don't interfere with each other. (A good example of this is left shift making you sprint or zooming the Mako's cannon). If you include the word "onrelease" before the command, then that particular command will only activate when the user releases this button.

Generally, you only want to alter the Name and Command, unless you have a specific behavior you want to achieve.

When binding a key with Control, Shift, or Alt combination in addition to the same key without that combination, make sure that the declaration with the combination precedes the one without.
For example:

Mass Effect comes with a set of commands that can be executed through the console or bound to keys, most are hidden and can only be found through trial and error.

Please note, that changing critical game-play keys may cause you to not be able to interface with objects, start conversations, etc. There are also some keys that control several action and sub-actions, removing parts of the binding command can cause that key to stop behaving as expected.

The default method to view the HUD screen is to press and hold the 'Spacebar' key until you want to return to the "action". A different approach is to toggle the HUD so it will stay on by pressing a key, and return to the game when the same button is pressed again. It is recommended to use a key other than the 'Spacebar' to preserve the default method.

The game has a lot of repetitive cutscenes, i.e. docking on the Citadel, or traveling through the mass relays. Those cutscenes can be skipped, and there is no need to alter the binding keys. To activate the ability to skip cutscenes by pressing the "Draw/Holster Weapon" button (Q is default), just edit the lines:

m_bDisableCinematicSkip=Falsem_fCinematicSkipTriggerDelay=1.000000

The first line enables you to skip the cutscenes (make sure to only set True/False here). The second line indicates the time that it takes from the button press to the actual skip. Note: some locations have the cutscene for a reason (Shepard walk or say something that triggers another event). Skipping that cutscene, therefore, may leave you stuck. Experiment at your own risk.

Quick-slot keys

There are eight lines for the ability keys, they are numbered from 0 to 7, and are easy to alter.

Command="UseAbility 0"shift=True

This example, modifies the shift parameter, to allow more control over what keys can be used, what allows the usage of already bound keys to be used with the shift key (A, S, D, or W, for example). Setting the Shift option to True instead of False will activate that combination, and will make Shepard use the first ability instead of moving to the left.

Squad Commands

Sometimes you want to give commands to a certain party member (to move forward, most of the times) and not to both of them.

Command="SquadCommandMoveTo 1"Command="SquadCommandMoveTo 2"

The numerical parameter value is to indicate what squad member will execute the order. Either 1 (first squad member) or 2 (second squad member).

Quickload

It is possible to add a quickload option to the game. The problem is that you have to manually set the save name in the configuration file.

Command="LoadGame John00_QuickSave"The LoadGame function receive the name of the save as a parameter: [profile_name]00_QuickSave. Replace [profile_name] with the name of your current character. This can be done with any save game file - look in your documents folder for desired name (x:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Save\).

Note that should you desire to use an F Key to bind quickload, you will also need to delete its corresponding line, such as

While holding the middle mouse button, game speed will increase ten times. It's helpful when traveling big distances, such as hub zones or planetary surface. It also works in Mako, and even in cutscenes, allowing you to fast-forward normally unskippable cutscenes. Speed multiplier may be arbitrary. Using this on a keyboard key sometimes causes glitches (e.g. it may freeze the game when fast-forwarding Mako landing), but binding on a mouse key doesn't.

bSmoothFrameRate=TrueMinSmoothedFrameRate=22MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62bSmoothFrameRate Determines if the engine will enforce the framerate settings (True) or if it will let the graphic card manage them. This may cause spikes in FPS and unwanted graphic behavior.

MinSmoothedFrameRate and MaxSmoothedFrameRate determine the minimum and maximum framerate. Setting the maximum value too high can sometimes degrade quality, rather then enhance it. It is recommended to set those values to the system refresh rate for best performance.

This setting controls the presentation of shadows in the game. Setting it to false may increase performance, but at the same time can degrade the presentation of shadows.

ShadowFilterRadius=2.000000

Control shadow filtering to determine how sharp or soft the shadows will appear in the game. Higher value will make the shadow softer, and lower value will make them sharper.

DepthBias=0.012000Controls the depth of shadows and how dynamic shadows appear. Higher value reduces the number of shadows shown, up to 1.0 that removes shadows altogether, and a lower value increase the number of shadows shown. This setting can cause glitches or fix them by changing the value.

Note: Patch 1.02 set this setting to 0.030 that remove shadowing. Setting this to 0.012 will return them.

MinShadowResolution=32MaxShadowResolution=512

Determine the minimum and maximum shadow resolution. Higher minimum value will increase the richness of shadows. Lower maximum value will degrade the appearance of shadows. Note, that setting the minimum too high (or maximum too low) may result in glitches and loss of performance.

ModShadowFadeDistanceExponent=0.200000

Controls the distance from where shadows will be visible. Higher value will cause shadows to be visible in the near vicinity, while lower value will cause shadows to be shown at greater distance, increasing quality and degrading performance.

Controls the appearance of weapon fire left by players. Setting this setting to False enhances performance, but reduces game experience.

DepthOfField=True

Controls the Depth of Field that simulate how object inside the "focus area" are sharper than objects outside that field. It most noticeable while using the Sniper Rifle zoom feature that makes targeted objects more crisp and clear, and others blurred. Setting this option to False improves performance.

QualityBloom=True

Originally meant to control the quality of the Bloom Effect, but does not seem to have any effect in-game, although setting it to False may improve performance.

Trilinear=True

Enables or disables the Trilinear Filtering that can improve the quality of textures, but at the same time can cause glitches and loss of quality.

MaxAnisotropy=4

If the game is set with Anisotropic as the filtering mode in-game, this setting can control the level of Anisotropic Filtering used. Specifying numbers between 0 (no anisotropic filtering, better performance, but poorer image quality) to 16 (maximum filtering, degraded performance but crisper and more detailed textures) - the default is 4.

[TextureLODSettings]

TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Diff=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Norm=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Spec=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)Setting the Min sizes to match the Max will force the game to always use the highest resolution textures on characters. This may decrease performance, but it will ensure a high resolution texture for Garrus's face - due to a bug, the game will always use the minimum resolution for his face texture.

Raising the Max size is not recommended, this may cause graphical glitches.

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]

BIOVertexShaderVersion=vs_2_0

Setting this to vs_3_0, improves game performance with minimal to none drop in graphics. Only recomended to users with GPU newer than the GeForce FX 5900 and the ATI Radeon X850.

Enables you to be injured by your squad, and vice-versa. This makes combat more realistic, but at the same time a problem with the current squad AI. Can also result in the 'death' of non-targetable NPCs.

[BIOC_Base.BioPlayerController]

CoverEnterInterval=0.0

Determines how much time it takes to the character to enter cover, when walking in-front of it.

Changes the color and transparency of the subtitles. The values are in RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) and alpha that determines the transparency (lower the value to make it more transparent).

m_fShowLastLineOffset=5.0

In conversation, determines how much time pass between the NPC last line, and the appearance of the Dialogue wheel. Setting this to 0.0, will cause the wheel to appear immediately, and helps prevent choosing unwanted answer when skipping dialogue.

m_bRemoveWeapons=True

Determines if Shepard will holster his weapon when initiating conversation. Setting this option to False will cause Shepard to keep holding his weapon while in conversation, others present in the conversation will also keep their weapons drawn. Can create some strange situations in which Shepard waves an assault rifle at people.

Determines the time until the game engine will attempt to remove enemy corpses for the first time, and how many retries it will execute. This will increase realism, but degrade performance (especially on intense combats). Note: Those settings also appear in [BIOC_Base.BioArtPlaceable], and might require the additional change, there.

Determines the amount of Experience Points awarded for a kill performed in the Mako, relative to the amount you would get on foot. Raising this to 1.0 will give you the same XP in the Mako as on foot. Raising over 1.0 also works (useful for speedruns with necessity of max level achievement).

To enable the console, browse to and open the file ...Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Config\BioInput.ini (the full location is mentioned above) in any text editor (Notepad, for example), but not with rich text editor (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer, WritePad, and the likes).

In the file you opened, search for [Engine.Console], and add the line ConsoleKey=Tilde just under it. This will create a console around 3/4 the height of your screen. Adding the line TypeKey=Tilde underneath ConsoleKey (or whatever keys you prefer) will instead create a console that is only one line wide at the bottom of your screen, allowing you full use of the console while allowing you to see in-game going-ons.

By default the [Engine.Console] section will contain:

[Engine.Console]MaxScrollbackSize=1024HistoryBot=-1ConsoleKey=Tilde

The code addition is marked as colored text

Note: some keyboard layouts, specifically on non-US English layouts, the Tilde key will map differently, and the game engine will not recognize the Tilde keyword. In this case, you will need to select a different key, such as Backslash, Tab, CapsLock, or any other to function as the console key.

Bug: Please be advised that when you shut down your computer, or completely exit the game for a prolonged period, the BIOInput.ini may be overwritten, and thus will not have the console enabled.

TiledShot 3x3 - takes a screenshot with a grid of 3 by 3. If the game is running in resolution of 1440x900, this will produce a 4320x2700 screenshot.TiledShot 2 - produces a screenshot twice the size of the game resolution.TiledShot 2 200 - takes a screenshot twice the size of the game resolution, and does overlap 200 pixels from every grid cell.

Stat FPS

Toggles the display of your framerate

Obj Classes

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Obj Dependancies

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Obj Hash

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Obj Linkers

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Getstring propertyidentifier string value

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Setstring propertyidentifier string value

See Unreal engine console documentation.

Execstring filename

Executes a specified file under the Mass Effect\Binaries directory

ce hench_picksquad

Select a new squad from the selection screen

Notes:

SaveGame - John00_QuickSave. The first part is the character name followed by the number count of that character name (such as having more than one John). The second part is the save name. John00_1 will result in "Save 1" in the loading screen user interface. John00_tester will result in "Save 0" in the loading screen.Excluding the Name00 from the string will result in a save file that cannot be accessed via the user interface and can only be loaded with the LoadGame command.

LoadGame - John00_QuickSave. Loading a game such as tester without having loaded a previous save in the career the save game was created from will result in unrecoverable errors and you will be forced to exit the game via exit or quit.

Difference between same specializations are first 6 points that are same as starting class mentioned in brackets.

When adding the bonus talents string be very careful for the game will only allow you to use around 5-6 offensive abilities for use in game, no matter how many abilities you add. So keep in mind that firstly you should add the abilities which are most useful(ex.- Warp & Singularity) fully upgrade them, then go for the other bonus talents. Also one might wanna start adding talents with spectre & class talents like - "commando".

Beyond changes to the configuration files, it is recommended to set your graphics card driver and settings to enhance graphic quality and performance. Below, are some recommendations for further readings: